"Where are your pants?" Edwards demanded of mistress

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Not only does Rielle Hunter insist she is not a homewrecker for coming between John Edwards and his wife, she also has an excuse for not wearing pants in a GQ photo spread.

" What I was thinking was, "I would like to have one sexy shot where the world can see me as a beautiful woman, as opposed to all those photos that are out there of me looking like some Wicked Witch of the West—the ugliest thing you could ever imagine," she told Oprah in an interview aired Friday.

Much of the free world was left scratching their heads after the racy pictorial came out, accompanying a broken silence interview in which she talked about the baby she had with Edwards while he was running for president and his wife was stricken with cancer.

Edwards was scratching his head, too.

"[He said], 'Where are your pants?'" Hunter recalled. "He knew I was upset about them, but I think that he felt protective. He wished he would have been there to say, 'No, don't do that.'"

So, Hunter is still in touch with her baby daddy, but that's about all she would admit to. That, and still being in love with him.

"It's private," Hunter said. "Because what we've been through, I need a boundary. We need boundaries on our personal lives."

Hunter met Edwards in a New York bar while he was running for president, breaking the ice by telling him "You are so hot." Soon the two were off together, though when Oprah asked if they slept together right away, Hunter demurred.

"I think think that that now I say, 'Okay, now fade to black.'" Hunter said. "Here's the thing: This whole journey has been so hard for me. I am a really private person with my personal life."

She also confirmed there was a sex tape of at least one of their assignations, one which a former Edwards aide got his hands on and nearly made public.

"Well, that was not a great idea. Let's do something to prevent anyone from seeing it." We don't want anyone to see our private business. So I took action to destroy the tape and kept it in my personal belongings so no one would get ahold of the tape."

That once-loyal aide, Andrew Young, was even willing to claim the love child was his in order to keep Edwards' White House dream alive. And even though Edwards pressured her to go along with the slimy scheme, Hunter doesn't blame the former North Carolina senator for disavowing her and their baby.

"When you finally said yes, you said yes because of what?" an incredulous Oprah asked.

"Well, because of my daughter," Hunter offered.

"At this time, you knew it was a daughter?" Oprah prodded.

"Yes, which he thought that was great. But I thought that she had so many things against her," Hunter said. "That would be a bad thing for both of them, a really bad thing."

Edwards is now separated from his wife, but Hunter would not say if the two of them have future plans.

"I'm not sure I want to get married ever," Hunter said. "I've been married, and I mean, I can't say never. I don't know if that's something I want. I don't need marriage to define who I am. It's not a pull for me."